Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition/Libourne

LIBOURNE, the chief town of an arrondissement, and in point of population the second town of the department of Gironde, France, is situated at the confluence of the Isle with the Dordogne, 337 miles by rail south-west from Paris, and 22 miles east from Bordeaux. The sea is 56 miles off, but the tide affects the river so as to admit of vessels of 300 tons burden reaching the town. The Dordogne is here crossed by a stone bridge 492 feet long, and a suspension bridge across the Isle connects Libourne with the adjoining Fronsac, the citadel of which, 235 feet above the sea, was at one time occupied by a palace of Charlemagne, and subsequently became an important fortress. Libourne is regularly built, but has no monuments of much architectural or historical interest; the (restored) Gothic church has a stone spire 232 feet high. On the quay there is a machicolated clock-tower which is a remnant of the ramparts of the 14th century; and the town-house, containing a small museum, is a quaint relic of the 16th century. There is a statue of the Duc Decazes, who was born in the neighbourhood. The principal articles of commerce are the wines and brandies of the district, the growths of chief repute being those of St Emilion, a short distance above Libourne, on the right bank of the Dordogne, and of Canon, a little below Fronsac. There is also some trade in yarn, grain, and wood for cooperage. Woollen stuffs and some articles of army outfit are manufactured; and nail-making, tanning, shoemaking, and shipbuilding are also carried on. The harbour is used exclusively by small vessels for the export of wines; the shipping owned in the place does not exceed 2500 tons. The population of Libourne in 1876 was 15,231.

Like other sites at the confluence of important rivers, that of Libourne was appropriated at an early period. Under the Romans Condate stood rather more than a mile to the south of the present Libourne, where the old Gothic chapelle de Condat now is; it was destroyed during the troubles of the 5th century. Resuscitated by Charlemagne, it was rebuilt, under its present name, and on the site and plan it still retains, by Edward, prince of Wales, in 1270. It suffered considerably in the struggles of the French and English for the possession of Guienne in the 14th century, and again during the religious wars, and finally in the war of the Fronde in the minority of Louis XIV. Nevertheless it ultimately outgrew both its powerful neighbours Fronsac and Saint Emilion, the latter of which is archæologically one of the most curious spots in France.